1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to antimicrobial compounds, in particular to antibacterial compounds and antifungal compounds. In certain embodiments, the antimicrobial compounds are effective against pathogens of hospital-acquired infections. In certain embodiments, the antimicrobial compounds are effective against pathogens that are resistant to antibiotics.
2. Description of the Background
Widespread use of antibiotics in recent decades has led to proliferation of pathogens having multiple drug resistance, often encoded by transmissible plasmids, and therefore capable of spreading rapidly between species. Many previously useful antibiotics are no longer effective against infectious organisms isolated from human and animal subjects. The specter of epidemic forms of bacterial diseases such as tuberculosis and fungal diseases, which are refractory to known antibiotic agents, may be realized in the near future. Development of novel antimicrobial compounds is a continuing urgent public health need.
Antibiotic-resistant strains of pathogenic microbes are a particular concern in cases of nosocomial infections. A nosocomial infection, also known as a hospital-acquired infection or HAI, is an infection whose development is favored by a hospital environment, such as one acquired by a patient during a hospital visit or one developing among hospital staff. Such infections include fungal and bacterial infections and are aggravated by the reduced resistance of individual patients, in particular, immune-compromised patients. The 10 most common pathogens (accounting for 84% of any reported HAIs in the U.S. in 2006-2007) were coagulase-negative staphylococci (15%), Staphylococcus aureus (15%), Enterococcus species (12%), Candida species (11%), Escherichia coli (10%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (8%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (6%), Enterobacter species (5%), Acinetobacter baumannii (3%), and Klebsiella oxytoca (2%). The pooled mean proportion of pathogenic isolates resistant to antimicrobial agents varied significantly across types of HAI for some pathogen-antimicrobial combinations. As many as 16% of all HAIs were associated with the following multidrug-resistant pathogens: methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) (8% of HAIs), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (4%), carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa (2%), extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant K. pneumoniae (1%), extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant E. coli (0.5%), and carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii, K. pneumonlae, K. oxytoca, and E. coli (0.5%). Hidron, A., et al., Antimicrobial-Resistant Pathogens Associated With Healthcare-Associated Infections: Annual Summary of Data Reported to the National Healthcare Safety Network at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2006-2007, Infect. Control Hosp. Epidemiol. 2008; 29:996-1011, abstract.